Bound Souls
by Nature9000
Summary: Forty-five souls wait to be devoured due to Beck's well meant plea for life following a tragic event. Now with their time drawing near, he learns of a medium who can free them from a demon's dark curse and allow them to cross over. First, however, he must find a way to convince this medium not only to help them, but to accept her ability and to break Ahriman's curse.
1. Alive, but not Alive

Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: This is a different thing than I've done and I hope you'll enjoy it. For those of you who are interested in the prequel, that was "Cursed Dance". Enjoy this.

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Chapter 1 (Alive but Not Alive)

"What are we still doing here?" Jade muttered harshly while watching Tori fidget around the refrigerator. Beside her, Beck scratched at the back of his head and moaned as he felt a clump of hair pull from his head. "It's been years. Dad and Andre's grandma are losing their minds."

Beck huffed as his girlfriend darted her cold eyes towards Tori and slapped her hand in the air. "It's _clear_ she's not the one, right?"

"Maybe it's because she's not eighteen yet," Robbie replied, "Janan said the medium's sense doesn't get strong until they hit eighteen, right?" Beck looked towards Rex and felt his heart sink as the puppet's sad eyes burned into him. Rex's face, arms and legs were beginning to splinter and would soon turn to dust.

"Man it's useless!" Andre proclaimed. "If we wait until she's eighteen it's going to be too late."

"Then what do you propose we do about it?" Cat snorted. The redhead crossed her arms and turned her head away. "I agree with Jade. It's useless. Nona's heart is breaking too." Cat's brow furrowed and she swept her bangs from her misty eyes. "Jade's father, Nona, Andre's grandma." Beck turned his gaze onto Cat and frowned at the bright red skin on her forehead, injuries not visible to many. "Why is it they can sense? They can see? Maybe we should go to one of them?"

"Janan said they weren't long for the world," Beck answered with a mournful tone. "They sense and see because they will die." He felt the chill of silence come in response to him, but despite this, the group did not react.

They had years to mull over this fact, to grow used to it. Even over the years, they had to avoid their families as well and become used to living apart. They didn't want to cause pain, and anytime they went near their families, one of their relatives would have a panic attack and break down in fits of tears.

Andre folded his arms and turned a forlorn gaze onto a rash on his arm. "They can't sense Ahriman anyway. No one can."

Beck's eyebrows meshed together and his face tensed as the hole in his heart burned. Being a year older than the rest was hard on him, but it wasn't the age that mattered. He felt responsible, so he led them. Now he did whatever he could to save them, but he was beginning to lose hope once more as Ahriman continued to claim another.

Guilt strangled him and drew his fists close. Jade's hand fell on his shoulder and he turned his head away to conseal the guilt and anger in his eyes. "You can't blame yourself forever, Beck." Her whisper enticed him, but drew back painful flashes.

Thunder echoed in his head and fire lapped at his chest. The smell of blood and smoke poisoned his nostrils as lighting flashed in his mind multiple times. "I should have listened to Sikowitz. Shouldn't have let anyone in that room. Damian, I thought…I thought Ahriman was going to give-"

"What are you guys talking about?" Tori's voice caused him to jerk his head upright. The girl was walking over with a soda in her hand. Her eyes were bright and her lips curled into a smile.

Cat leaned forward and swept her fingers across the red blotch on her forehead. "Can you see this?" Tori squinted her eyes and wiggled her nose.

"What? A zit?" Beck cupped his hand over his mouth and Cat fell back with a sigh of defeat. Tori's shoulders fell and concern flickered past her eyes. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Don't worry about it," Beck remarked. Tori hadn't ever noticed the shape Rex was in either. Maybe the others were right, maybe it was useless and they needed to resign themselves to their fate.

"I suppose she smells nothing either," Jade whispered while rolling her eyes. The stench was a powerful one. "I don't care what Janan said. She was wrong." Jade pulled her hair over her right shoulder and moved her hand up to scratch the bright red rash on her neck. "We may as well enjoy what little time left. Besides, Janan claims the medium can only sense because they're born from another cursed-do either Mr. or Mrs. Vega look cursed to you?"

"One has to be living, so maybe Mr. or Mrs. Vega had a kid with someone else that was cursed." Robbie shrugged and rolled his head to the side. "Janan said we already know the medium, and we need to convince the person to accept their ability to sense, but…so far we just look normal to Tori, and everyone else."

"I guess it's not that bad," Rex muttered, "You guys were lucky enough to be bound to your bodies. Instead, I get bound to a goddamn puppet."

It was fine that they looked normal to everyone, although half of Hollywood Arts did. The majority, even Damian himself blamed Beck for negotiating with Ahriman. Every day, every year when another's time was up, their last words before returning to dirt was a curse on his name.

Even Rex blamed him, but Beck's curse was worse than Rex's. While Rex challenged Ahriman and was forced into the body of a puppet, Beck would be last to meet the abyss, watching as all those he cursed went before him.

"We can't just give up." He glanced down to his hand, studying the veins that bulged from the surface. He yearned for the hot blood that once flowed through them with quick pulses. "Whoever Janan told us about…can sense, they can save us. I won't give up."

He watched as Tori and Andre talked near the piano. A shallow sensation lingered in his stomach as he replayed the imagery in his head. "It isn't your responsibility." Jade's hand fell on his and a shiver ran down his spine.

Her touch was as icy as the snow up north, and a wet feeling lingered in her palm. "It is." He removed his hand from hers and watched the frown lines grow around her lips. Sikowitz's voice echoed inside his mind, crippling him.

_"Beck, don't open that door!" Beck whined as he heard Damian calling for help amid the sound of bullets outside._

_ "But it's just Damian." Along with Sinjin, Damian had been a good friend of his. Sinjin passed and Beck was getting more involved with the new friends he'd made, but that didn't mean he was going to abandon Damian. "We can't leave him out there."_

_ "Beck, no!"_

Another blast of thunder echoed in his head. He moved his hand to his abdomen as his stomach dropped. The worry in Jade's eyes pulled at his heartstrings, and he forced himself to look away. "You know it is. Every person still there at Hollywood Arts, every person whose family can't see them but they're cursed to live among the living until Ahriman claims them…I negotiated, thinking Ahriman would give us all a chance to live again. I was fooled and cursed everyone."

"Beck."

"That woman." His breathing grew heavy as he felt a fire surrounding him. "Janan said the medium can see and smell us in our current state, that the medium can sense the supernatural. She's strongest at eighteen, and somehow she can free us. So if I can help save everyone from the fire, then damn it Jade, I'm not going to give up!"

Jade's fingers ran through his hair and tears ran along her cheeks. Robbie and Cat turned their heads to their feet and Rex shook his head. "I know you feel like its your fault, Beck. You're the one that spoke to Janan before any of us." Beck's eyes slid towards Jade and he took a deep breath, holding it as she pulled her hand away. "I'm not going to deny outright, but it is clear that no Vega in this household can sense us."

"Well we've only looked at Tori," Robbie stated, "I mean she's the one that isn't eighteen yet. Maybe that's the reason. Didn't Janan say the medium wouldn't be able to sense until she's eighteen?"

"No she's supposed to sense something before that, but when she turns eighteen is when it becomes more intense." So it was likely Tori just did not pay attention because her senses weren't sharp enough to be noticeable.

"So what, we wait for another two years?" Robbie crossed his head and snorted. "That sound like so much fun. Maybe we can just tell everyone that's rotting away that the savior is just two years away." He threw his hand into the air and rolled his eyes. "What if we're wrong? Maybe there's someone else in LA, maybe Janan lied and there is no promise. No damn salvation. Ahriman's going to claim all our souls, sap our energy and send us into hell!"

"Tori's good at a lot of stuff," Cat muttered, "It has to be her. Besides, she might be the only one to believe us. Though, if she can't see the decay…"

"Hey!" Tori's voice interrupted them. They turned back to see her walking to the couch. "The Walking Dead is about to start, you guys want to watch?" Beck's face turned sour as the others groaned.

"I can't stand zombie shit," Rex growled. "And the name zombie? Where the hell did that title come from? More like cursed souls destined for a black abyss."

Cursed dead have been around for years, theirs was not the first instance. Usually it happened when a soul tried to make a deal with a reaper to have a second chance, and they discover the reaper is simply a demon that will devour leave them bound to their decaying bodies only to be devoured at some point down the road.

It was very likely that this type of curse was inspiration to the person who thought up the zombie genres, but Rex had a point, the name 'zombie' was terrible. Also the media's portrayal of zombies made Beck sick to his stomach.

Tori slid her hands along the back of the couch and slanted her eyes at the puppet. "Robbie, when are you going to stop using that puppet? It's creepy."

Robbie opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when Trina's voice rose above them and made them flinch in shock. "Jesus! It smells like death in here." Beck raised an eyebrow and turned his head over his shoulder to see Trina descending the steps.

She was dressed to go out, wearing a flashy red dress and sparkly red heels. Her cheeks had a light pink blush and she wore light peach mascara. Trina's nose crinkled as she met Tori's gaze. "You should tell your friends to take a bath or something." Her Chanel purse slipped from her shoulder so she grabbed it and swiftly returned it to its place.

"Don't be rude." Tori slid her hands to her waist and glared at her sister. "Besides, I smell nothing." Beck's jaw dropped as Trina rolled her eyes and made her way to the door.

Trina always avoided them, to the extent they rarely saw her. That was more prevalent in recent months, but they never put any stock into it.

"Just go on your date," Tori remarked.

"Since when is she dating?" Jade scratched at her forehead and looked to the others with concern. A scowl spread across Trina's face and Jade flinched. "I uh, didn't mean that to sound rude."

"I've been going out with Sinjin for three months now," Trina answered. "Try not to sound so surprised." Jade's eyes widened and Beck's chest throbbed. They weren't expecting to hear she was going out with him, of all people.

"S-Sinjin?"

Trina's lips curled into a frown and her nose scrunched. "Oh and Jade?" After a minute, she rubbed her own neck and twisted her lips in disgust. "You really should do something about that rash, it really looks bad."

Jade's hand shot up to her neck and her lips separated an inch. Beck curled his lips into a smirk as Trina left the house. He looked towards Tori, watching the girl shake her head. "Hey Tori, how old is Trina?"

Tori gave him a look as though he'd just asked an incredibly stupid question. He was taken aback by this, but said nothing and let her speak. "Eighteen. I thought you guys knew that. She turned eighteen three months ago, just before Sinjin asked her out. I thought you paid more attention to her?"

"She hardly pays attention to us, so we do the same." Now it was time to pay a little more attention. If _Trina_ was the one that Janan spoke of, they'd have to convince her to help.

No easy task of course, especially not if she was dating Sinjin, but Beck was going to see it through. Those of them left needed this, they needed a savior. If that was Trina, then he was determined to convince her of it no matter the task.

* * *

So Trina is the medium. We'll have to delve more into what that means and exactly what it is a medium can sense-which is essentially the spiritual realm. Most ignore, then there are those like Trina who are in denial of their senses. Then there's the question of how she can break them of the curse, but this Janan holds the key to that.


	2. The Medium's Sense

Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

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Chapter 2 (The Medium's Sense)

"What if the dead walked the earth?" Trina raised an eyebrow to Sinjin and studied the television show they were watching. _The Walking Dead. _"What would you say?" She curled her fingers around her bangs and gently pulled them from her eyes.

"I'd say you were crazier than I thought. Then I'd ask if the sushi you had at dinner tonight was bad." Sinjin laughed. She felt something brush her shoulder and snapped her eyes to her right where his hand was hanging over her.

Trina tensed her body and cleared her throat while returning her gaze to the show. It was a marathon night, but she never got into the show as much as other people did. "Where's your sister, Sinjin? We've been on five dates now and I have never seen Courtney."

Sinjin's face fell and Trina caught a flicker of something in his eyes. "Courtney hangs by herself typically." The tone in his voice was questionable, as though he did not get along well with his sister. With how little he spoke of her, it wouldn't surprise her if they didn't get along. "Do you want me to call her in? I'm sure she's just confined in her room."

"That's okay." She shrugged his hand away from her shoulder and stood up. "I need to use the restroom." Sinjin kept his eyes on the television, watching as Rick Grimes shot another zombie. He lifted his hand and pointed to a hallway.

"Down the hall and first door on the left." Trina nodded and followed his direction. She didn't care much for the house since it generated an air of discomfort that she was doing her best to ignore.

As she set her had on the doorknob to the restroom, she looked down the hall to the doorframe of a bedroom. Fingers wrapped around the edge of the frame and a blonde head poked halfway out. "Courtney?"

The girl studied her for a long period, then looked to the bedroom across the hallway. Trina's heart trembled as her eyes moved to the door. The girl pulled herself back into the room.

Trina listened to the metallic clicking of the lock and turned back to the restroom. Behind her she heard a whisper that made her blood run cold. "Vega." Her eyes darted over her shoulder and her teeth clenched.

She could feel the walls closing in, startling her as cracks ran along the edges. "Save…" Her stomach dropped and she clenched her eyes shut, swearing she was only imagining it. When she opened her eyes, the hallway had returned to normal.

"My imagination. Of course." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. This wasn't new to her, but it hadn't been this way before. Before she'd see things, smell things or hear things that nobody else would. She could ignore it then, but upon turning eighteen it was getting worse. The instances would come more frequently and stronger.

Still it was only a part of life, part of the background. No one else acknowledged it, so she didn't think she had to.

The whispers increased and like voices in her mind commanded her attention. "I must be going insane." She tore her hand away and looked back to the door, there was a darkness descending upon it but she associated it with the shadows.

_"Salvation. Savior." _

A vein popped from her neck as she slowly approached the door, each footstep sounded out like the echo of her heart.

_"Bam. Another one down…"_

Damian's voice, she recognized it, which was strange because she only met the man once or twice when she'd been at that nightmarish school.

_ "Don't open the door. Don't do it." _Trina's lips pressed together and she looked over her shoulder, curious to why she was hearing Sikowitz's voice. Damian's voice replied with snide towards whomever he was speaking to.

_ "Shouldn't have opened it…"_

Trina's breathing grew shallow as she stopped in front of the bedroom door. She felt a powerful heat swirling about her, forcing beads of sweat to pull from her pores and grasp at her hair.

The whispers behind the door were deafening now. "Is someone in there?" She swat the air beside her ear and shook her head as the whispering stung her like the sound of nails scratching a chalkboard.

_"Cursed. He cursed us." _Trina was certain they were real at this point, but she was too frightened to inquire of the speaker. If there was one. _"Cursed to rot unseen. Alive but not alive."_

_ "Devil in disguise."_

Her hand trembled over the doorknob while the air around her grew heavy. A fog surrounded her, drenching her with a cold mist.

_ "He'll eat our souls he will! Grow powerful with our essence. We won't be the last, he'll never stop. Not till he claims all the souls, not till he's the most powerful."_

"Who? Who won't stop?" She whisked her hand away, certain now that she was crazy for asking the voice.

_"Ahriman."_

Her heart dropped to her stomach and a breath escaped with a whimper from her startled lips. A response was the last thing she expected to hear from these whispers. "You don't exist. Figment of my imagination." She lowered her hands to her sides and steeled her nerves. "Created by a child's mind many years ago." Her face tightened and her eyes narrowed. "You're not real!"

It always stopped then, and even now, the whispering died down. Trina moved her hand to her chest and breathed out slowly. A cold chill swept across her cheek, caressing her. The door then shot open against the violent wind that knocked her off her feet, and with the wind came the voice's powerful shout._ "Doom!"_

Her eyes widened as a black vortex appeared in the door. She opened her mouth to scream, but her voice caught in her throat when a memory of a six year old child played itself in the vortex.

_"Christy, I don't like this game anymore. Let's just go home, please!" Trina crouched with her back against a tombstone. She wrapped her arms around her legs and hugged her trembling knees to her chest. "I don't want to play hide an' seek anymore. Daddy says cemeteries are bad places to go at night." Tears ran down her cheeks as she listened to the sound of rustling leaves and the mundane sound of an owl nearby._

_ The only reason they were out here was because it was Halloween and Christy dared her to play Hide and Seek in the town cemetery. She hated cemeteries because they frightened her, even as a baby she saw weird figures and shadows, and heard moans that she stopped paying attention to._

_ A sudden cry shook the air and caused Trina to jump to her feet. "Christy!"_

_ "Trina! Run Trina!" _

_ "Christy!" Panicked, she ran for her friend. Her chest ached with each pulse of her heart, and each breath fell in a violent pant. When she found Christy, she saw the girl being dragged across the ground by an unseen force. _

_ The girl was clawing at the ground, weeping bitterly. She threw her fearful gaze up as Trina ran for her to help. "No Trina, stay back! It isn't safe!"_

_ "I won't let you go." She reached down and grabbed Christy's hand. In that moment an explosion of air knocked her back onto the ground. She swept the dirt from her mouth and looked up and whimpered when she saw the figure holding onto Christy's ankle._

_ He resembled a giant with broad shoulders and a heavy jaw. "Medium." His hair was as black as the night sky and long like a poisonous waterfall. "Her soul is mine." The man's voice hit her like an earthquake, bidding her to run, but his piercing yellow eyes paralyzed her. "If you are so close to this ghost, you may join her."_

_ "G-Ghost?" _

_ "Trina, I'm so sorry." Christy whimpered as the man's lips separated and his jaw began to expand. "I just wanted to live as a normal girl, I didn't want to die, I loved my momma and my brother. I'm sorry I lied, Trina." Her heartbeat sped up as a black hole formed in the man's mouth, growing as his jaw reached the floor below. "I'm sorry."_

_ "This isn't real. None of this is real!" She scrambled to her feet, wiping the tears from her face as she watched her friend fly into the demon's mouth, engulfed by a dark abyss. _

_ The demon started for her but stopped as the cemetery lit up with light. Dropping to her knees, she whimpered as the cemetery's permanent residents surrounded her and their voices lashed out at the man._

_ "Go away! If I close my eyes you'll disappear!" She dropped her face into her hands, sobbing at the nightmare. Soon the whispers vanished along with the whirling wind._

_ "Trina!" Her father's voice, like music to her ears, forced her to open her eyes and look up. The man was rushing for her, his face etched with concern._

_ "Daddy!" She sprang to her feet and ran for him, hugging his legs and sobbing into his knees. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I don't like cemeteries daddy." He scooped her up into his strong arms and held her close to his chest._

_ "It's okay sweetheart. What were you doing out here by yourself?"_

_ "I wasn't alone. I was with Christy. She wanted to play hide an' seek." She rubbed her wet eyes with her arm and looked up to her father's confused look._

_ "Christy? Christy who?"_

_ "Christy Vicarious, Daddy. You know her."_

_ "Christy Vi…" His voice quieted and his eyes grew with sorrow. "I've not heard that poor child's name in ten years. Come sweetie, let's get you home." _

_ She put her chin on his shoulder and looked down to a nearby tombstone as the man carried her away. Her body continued to tremble, and her chest was moving rapidly while trying to catch her breath._

_ When she read the words on the tombstone, however, everything stopped. To her horror she was reading her best friend's name. Born in 1982, died in 1989._

Trina blinked multiple times as Christy's voice echoed in her head. She backed up against the wall and threw her hand up to her forehead, rubbing the bottom of her palm against her eye.

"You're not real, you never were. Leave me alone."

"Trina?" Her eyes shot open and everything that surrounded her was a normal house, and the door in front of her opened to show a standard bedroom lit by moonlight. To her left, Sinjin was standing over her and looking to her with concern. "Everything alright?"

"What?" For a split second it appeared that his eyes had been replaced by empty, blood drenched sockets. She shook her head and moved her hand up to her throat, sighing when he appeared perfectly fine. "Y-Yeah I'm fine. Just coming down with something, I think."

She picked herself up and turned away when he started to try and help her to her feet. "I'm okay, Sinjin. I think I'm going to head home now, that stupid television show is messing with me."

"What? It's just a stupid zombie thing."

"It freaks me out." She moved into the living room and grabbed her purse off the couch. "I will talk to you later."

"You want a ride back?"

"No I'll walk. Thanks though." She pulled her purse over her shoulder and moved to the door. Her nose crinkled when she caught a whiff of a nauseating scent. When she opened the door, Beck and Jade were standing on the porch.

Relief swept through her and she let Sinjin know he had visitors before she brushed past the couple. Their eyes widened and they glanced inside the house.

Walking down the street, she stopped beneath a streetlight and pulled her phone from her purse. She fumbled with it while searching through her contacts. She stopped over the name Jason and took a deep breath.

He was someone she met almost two years ago and came back into her life. She called him up and waited with baited breath until he answered. "Trina? I thought we weren't talking?"

Only due to his having returned around the same time she and Sinjin started dating. This was not the time to focus on that. "I think I'm going insane." She looked over her shoulder and furrowed her brow when a shadow fell behind a nearby house. "Am I being followed?"

"What was that? Are you okay? What about that guy you're dating now? How come you don't call him up?"

"I'm leaving his house. I don't know…" She swept her hand through her hair and closed her eyes. "I can't really talk about it."

"What's going on, Trina?" His voice was serious, and Trina had to think for a moment about how her statement sounded. To Jason, it could be alarming.

"Nothing. Just…" She glanced to a corner restaurant and made her way towards it. "You know Tyson's Barbeque?"

"On Chelsea and Tenth?" She looked up to the neon open sign and pushed the door open. Her eyes trailed over her shoulder and once more she thought she saw someone duck out of sight.

"Yeah. Meet me here soon as you can." She hung up and pressed herself against the door. Her shoulders fell and her body relaxed. Her mind still spun and her nerves were shot, but she had to try and relax. "None of it's real. None of it."

* * *

So she's definitely a medium, which remember happens if you're one of your parents was a cursed dead, so she's going to probably question that aspect if she ever figures it out. Now, what are your thoughts so far. Any thoughts on Sinjin? He's not technically a cursed dead. Oh, and I'm still on the fence about whether this will be mainly Beck's perspective or Trina's, leaning towards Beck's, though both will have their perspective shown.


	3. The Unexplainable

Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: In this you will learn the fate of Beck and the others.

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Chapter 3 (The Unexplainable)

The horrific images remained imprinted on her brain long after the phone call, so Trina sat at the table struggling to rid herself of them. The window beside her allowed for the moon's neon glow to cast itself upon her cheeks.

Gazing outside, the skies had patches of purple clouds. Her eyes fell onto a figure that was standing at the other end of the parking lot. The man looked like Beck, but also like something out of the television show they were watching earlier. His hair looked to be falling out, his clothes were ragged and a hole in his shirt revealed a smaller hole in his chest.

"What is he, dressing up for a costume party?" She pulled the corners of her lips back and reached for the string to draw the blinds. "Jesus what's wrong with me tonight?" None of this was happening before going to Sinjin's place, but she didn't want to tell him that and make him worry.

Before closing the blinds, she saw an approaching pair of headlights zipping into the parking lot entrance beside Beck. Her heartbeat sounded off in her chest and her lips curved up as she watched the vehicle park and shut off its lights.

Within a minute the front door flew open and in place of them stood a tall, broad shouldered man with short brown hair spiked in the front. His blue eyes scanned the room.

Trina leaned forward, letting her eyes fall onto his chest and arms, and soon the nightmarish visions were being replaced by thoughts of him. The very reason being friends was so difficult were due to her feelings. While only starting to date Sinjin when he came back into her life, she didn't want her feelings for Jason getting in the way of that.

This was an emergency. "Jason, over here!" She waved and smiled as his eyes darted towards her. His chest sunk inwards and he walked up to the table.

"What's going on?" He pulled the chair back and sat across from her. "You sounded panicked over the phone. The guy you're with is treating you right, I hope?"

"Yeah but it isn't about him." Jason folded his hands on the table and glanced up as the waiter came by to ask him what he'd like for a drink. He ordered water, then looked towards Trina with a heavy sigh.

"Okay. Well I know you told me before you couldn't be around me or anything because you were dating him, so whatever it is must be bad." She swept her hair over her ear and looked down to her hand on the table. As she curled her fingers, she shrugged her shoulders and let out a heavy sigh.

"I don't know if it's bad so much as crazy." Her eyes returned to the window where the blinds were only halfway drawn. Beck was gone now, but still she felt someone's eyes on her and it generated great discomfort. "I wanted to ask you because we've talked about this sort of thing. Back at camp."

She moved her hands together and ran her right thumb over the knuckle on her left. Her lip tucked under her corner teeth as her eyes drifted up towards Jason's concerned gaze.

"Do you believe in ghosts? Spirits?" His brow furrowed and his lips pressed together.

"I believe there are things that people can't explain."

"Like, you said your uncle, right?"

"Uncle Erwin? Yeah." He leaned back and chuckled once. "Family doesn't like talking about him." A small wrinkle formed on Trina's forehead as she thought about Mr. Sikowitz sitting in his classroom, holding a coconut and staring at her with empty, sad eyes. "Everyone sees him, right? You do, your sister and her friends. People at that school."

"Right."

"But according to my family-who stay away from him…" Trina's stomach knotted and her eyebrows shot up. "They say he should be dead. He died while I was being born. Mom didn't find the news about her brother until the next day."

An icy chill struck her throat and she moved her hand up to her chest, curling her fingers over and into her dress collar. They talked briefly about Sikowitz at the camp and she didn't know what to believe then, and even now she didn't know what to think. "What does your family say happened to him?"

Jason held his breath for a minute and contemplation passed over his gaze. He flattened his palms on the table and separated his lips to release the breath of air. "The reason I don't go to Hollywood Arts is because mom freaks out about that place." His voice deepened and his eyes softened. "I don't know much, but apparently in '91 there was a school shooting there. Damian Parker-"

"Tori talks about a Damian Parker in one of her classes now, it's weird." Damian Parker was this weird, possibly troubled youth with scary eyes and a sinister voice. People at the school avoid him, but there are some students at the school that are plain terrified of him for reasons nobody has explained. "Sorry for interrupting, continue."

She felt a heaviness descending upon her and a thickness in the air that choked her. Jason scratched at his forehead and tensed his forehead. "Uncle had his students safe in the classroom, but a student let Damian inside. Apparently they were friends at some point. Nine of ten students in that room were gunned down."

"Oh god!" Her heart thrust forward as bile shot up her throat. The image of Sikowitz's blood drenched classroom returned to her mind, sickening her as she tried to shake it. She saw this once when she went into the man's room, and after that, she never returned. "What happened to your uncle?"

"He struck Damian down. His classroom was the last room Damian went into, according to mom. He fought Damian back and pushed his desk back, pinning him to the wall. They say the shooter shot himself as Uncle ran with the last student, getting her out the door."

She was relieved to hear about it, but now she was confused because Jason said his uncle died. "That sounds like he survived." Jason closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.

"He went back inside." Trina furrowed her brow and leaned back slowly, shaking her head in question. "The principal barricaded himself in the office, Uncle wanted to get him out. Damian had planted pipe bombs throughout the building…"

Her heart sank into her stomach and she gasped for air, but there was none to be found. His eyes opened halfway and his shoulders fell. "Not enough to bring the school down, but enough to make the tragedy one of the worst."

"H-How many died that day?

"Mom says forty-five. Twenty years and I never hear the end of it."

"Your uncle was a hero." She reached over and cupped her hand over his. She still didn't know what to make of it, and likely he didn't either because he still saw his own Uncle as though the man were alive still. "I don't know how he still walks around, or if it is him at all."

"That's just the thing. I was there when your sister and her friends were doing some skit at Uncle's place. He was alive and well-pushed himself through a window and came out without any marks, but still…" Jason rubbed his chin and furrowed his brow. "I can't explain it. Just like I can't explain why either, but I also feel a connection to the guy."

Trina swept her fingers in and slouched in her seat. "Well he is your uncle…"

"True." He scratched his chin and studied her for a minute. Concern flickered in his eyes, and the warmth in them tempted her. "Certainly you didn't call me to talk about my uncle, Trina."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "No I didn't, but you're familiar with the unexplained that's all. I've been having dreams…if you could call them that. Visions of ghouls, ghosts, and I even feel like I'm being watched."

Jason looked from side to side, looking out for her. The gesture brought a

smile to her face.

"Jason, it got really bad tonight. Sinjin even had these empty, soulless eyes-only bloody sockets though." Her voice rose and she leaned forward, moving her hand to her forehead. Jason raised an eyebrow at her and frowned. "I think I'm going insane."

"No you're not. It's probably that you did something or saw something that's bringing this on."

"Well, we _were_ watching that zombie show."

"That could be something right there." She lowered her hand and looked to his reassuring, comforting gaze. It was nice to know he didn't think she was insane. There truly wasn't anyone else she could talk to about this without it being suggested she enter a mental asylum.

"Yeah but I've seen stuff like this before. It all really started when I was a little girl. I mean, I always have noticed strange things, I just never really saw or heard much until I was six." She held onto her breath and waited as Jason pulled his lips back and nodded once, motioning for her to continue. "I had this best friend of mine. Christy. When I was six, we went to play in this cemetery…" Her chest throbbed with pain as the memory reentered her mind. Tears welled up in her eyes and she cleared her throat.

"Christy was being dragged off by something. I couldn't see it until I grabbed her hand. What was holding her…" She caught herself and winced at the image of the being she considered worse than what to small children was considered the boogeyman. "I don't even know. He was tall, covered by long black hair…he opened his mouth and-" A hiccup left her lips and her face tightened as Christy's scream echoed in her brain.

Jason curled his hand around hers, squeezing it for comfort. She looked down to his hand and sighed, forcing herself to continue. "I can't even understand how, but he-he _ate_ her."

"Ate?" But then, Christy had been more of a ghost than a living dead being, but that didn't explain how she was always able to touch the girl.

"There was a black hole or something, I don't know. Ghosts started appearing around me when he turned to me, they stopped him." She took a deep breath and shook her head. "When Daddy found me, he took me home, but before we left I saw a grave stone…Christy's."

"She was-"

"Should have been dead. Like…Like your uncle, apparently." She pulled her hand away and rose up from the table. "I'm sorry, it's all too crazy. I'm just imagining things." He stood up and reached over to hug her.

"It's alright, Trina. Just relax."

"Yeah, just…" She looked out the window and furrowed her brow when she saw a shaded figure walking along the edge of the parking lot. A nervous spike shot up inside her and she tore her eyes away. "Can you take me home? I don't feel comfortable walking back."

"Sure."

"Thanks…and thanks for being here."

"You know you can call me anytime if you need anything." She looked up to his eyes and curled her lips into a smile. After a second she tore them away and pulled her purse strap back over her shoulder. "As a friend, Trina."

"I know, Jason." She swept her fingers across her forehead and pulled them away with a heavy sigh. There was a part of her, or a voice rather, telling her to pursue Jason. She wanted to be with him, but since she was with Sinjin, she couldn't. Yet that voice, which sounded as though it could be Christy, seemed to be warning her of Sinjin. "It's just difficult, but thank you."

* * *

Remember not all is as it seems, there's almost a deeper line to everything. So here's the fate of so many, and that demon that took Christy was Ahriman, though he needs a human vessel-wonder what he's up to. Bear also in mind that yes, that's the same Christy that was Robbie's "bully" on the show. There's a reason for it. It has not been said just yet what happens when Ahriman claims a soul. Indeed Sikowitz was a hero in his final hours.


	4. Unbearable Hell

Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 4 (Unbearable Hell)

"I can't understand why she's with him," Jade whispered as she moved her body against Beck's. He closed his eyes and breathed in gently as her fingers slid along his bare chest and tenderly brushed over the decay on his right breast. Her eyebrows moved inwards and the corners of her lips sank.

"Ahriman is planning something." Either that, or the demon knew they were going to attempt to convince Trina to help. As if it wasn't difficult enough of a process just getting through to her, he certainly didn't want to be struggling against Ahriman. "Whatever his purpose, we have to get through to her before he does anything to stop us."

His eyelids slid open halfway and his gaze drifted to her. She was gazing at the hole on his chest with a forlorn expression. Each time they slept together, she always appeared ready to cry. It was painful, but he made no attempt to express it. "What's going to happen to us, Beck?"

"What do you mean?"

"If we convince her to help, if she can do whatever it is this Janan woman promises."

"We cross over. Everyone crosses over." He felt her body shift and slide down his side as her head moved between his chin and chest. Beck slid his arm around her bare back and gazed at her with a growing amount of concern. "It's the only way, Jade. If we do nothing, Ahriman takes everyone. It's my responsibility."

"You say that, but Beck, what if what Janna said is wrong? What if it's hopeless?"

He didn't accept that possibility. Many were already giving up, and many had resigned themselves to fate, but he was going to keep fighting so long as he could. "We have to keep trying." Jade pursed her lips and he slid his arm around her shoulders while mustering up a reassuring smile. "I'm not going to let Ahriman claim everyone's souls, nobody deserves to go to hell. Not even Damian."

She scoffed lightly and shook her head. "I don't know how you can have the patience to try and help even him, but that's something I can say I love about you. You're more forgiving than I could be."

"I don't know. I'd say you're forgiving. After all, you and the others have stood by me even after all this time, when it was my fault everyone's been cursed the way they are."

"Curse or no, I love you, and I always have. Nothing's going to change that." She ran her fingers along the decay on his body and gazed at it with a forlorn expression. "I don't mind this curse, as long as we're together it's bearable. I know we've had our arguments, but, I don't think I could make it without you-I'd go insane."

He kissed the top of her head and hugged her close, needing to say nothing to comfort her. He knew as far as the curse went, she'd go before him, and it pained him. Much of the guilt he already felt was for the fact that she'd been cursed by his actions, and Beck wanted to save her more than any of the others that were in this situation.

_"If Trina's the way out, the I'll do whatever it takes to get her to help us."_ He studied Jade and felt a deep sorrow overtake him. In his mind he could picture his nightmare, Ahriman claiming Jade's soul, and it terrified him. The demon could do such a thing at any time. _"No. He won't have you, he won't have anyone else. I don't know how Trina can help, or what she can do, but if getting her to Janan will help with anything-"_

"Beck?" Her soft tone broke his thoughts, and once her eyes met his, he gave a smile and slowly rubbed her back.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering. I know we're not the first to be cursed corpses, and various demons have been doing this for centuries, but…I just wonder, a true medium that has a real connection with the spiritual realm-not those hacks you see on television and everything." She paused for a second and her nose started to wrinkle. "They're half dead, a child of a cursed dead and a living being?"

"That's what Janan says."

"But Mr. and Mrs. Vega are both living, and Tori doesn't have the sense. How is Trina a medium?"

"I was wondering about that myself." He had his theories, but the most applicable could be that either David or Holly had been with someone before they met each other. "Tori could be a half-sibling. Trina is the oldest, so maybe one of the parents was with someone else before they met who they're with now."

"Don't you think Tori would have mentioned her mom or dad having a prior marriage or relationship that Trina was born from?" Jade lifted her head and tossed her hand up. "I mean that girl's got an open mouth, she talks about everything under the sun, I'm just saying."

"There are probably some things she doesn't share, but then, do you think either parent would mention Trina being born from someone that was already dead? How would you go about explaining that?"

"I don't know." He often wondered about that since learning what a medium was. He also questioned whether a cursed dead and another cursed dead could have children, but since he and Jade haven't had any children in the last twenty years, he was almost certain it would be impossible. If it were possible, he would have no idea how to explain to a child that both of their parents are deceased. "I think we should be glad that we can't have children."

"That we know of. Just because both of us are cursed, do you really think it's not possible?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure if I want to find out."

"Don't worry about it." She laughed and rolled on top of him, grinning as she peered into his eyes. "It hasn't happened in twenty years. I'm not worried either."

There was probably a reason that it was likely with a living, because the living had more active reproductive organs. Still, a female cursed could get pregnant and bear a child, it happened to at least one of the cursed in their own school. They were all shocked by it when it happened, and what was worse, was the fact that the living father didn't want the child.

It was put up for adoption when Ahriman came to claim that woman's soul.

The next day, Beck met up with Andre and Robbie at a pool hall they frequented. Billiards had become a hobby for them over the years, even before they were cursed.

Rex watched from a nearby chair, muttering as he so often did. "If I were human again, I could beat the three of you."

"Yes we know." Beck lined up his shot, aiming for the nearest solid ball. "You say that every time." Rex had been the best of the four at billiards, and often boasted that his father was a champion pool shooter. "I feel for you, I do." He struck the cue ball and smirked as it knocked the solid into the corner pocket.

"Funny, very funny. Showoff." He straightened his back and tapped his foot to a song playing in the establishment. It was a song from 1989, _Rock On_ by Michael Damian. Rex's eyes drifted to the ceiling and he let out a subtle hum. "Since when do they play vintage stuff?"

"Vintage?"

"Yeah, this is from the eighties, man. It's old…"

Beck laughed as Andre and Robbie shook their heads. "Now you're making me feel old. This was one of my favorite songs back then, I listened to it day in and day out whenever it hit the top charts."

"Yeah whatever. You remember when MTV hit the scene with _Video Killed the Radio Star?"_

"We were only four when that came out," Andre reminded him. Rex was a little older, so he could remember it, but they hardly remembered the start of MTV. "I didn't even start watching MTV until I was 12." Beck raised an eyebrow as he leaned over the pool table to line up another shot. He looked up from the cue stick and tucked the corner of his lip into his cheek.

"Why so late?"

Andre shrugged and grabbed the pool chalk. "Mom and Dad didn't like the music on MTV. Dad was only fond of jazz, and musicians like the Rat Pack. Mom was into gospel music. The stuff on MTV drove her insane."

"Ah."

Robbie grabbed his soda from the table and lifted it up to his lips, holding it just inches from his mouth. "Man that's not cool. You know, I watched MTV as early as seven. My parents weren't so strict."

"I remember, they let you get away with anything."

"Perks of being an only child, man." Robbie laughed for several seconds, then stopped abruptly. Beck felt a shift in the energy around him and slowly pulled himself away from the table. Silence fell over the group as they all gazed at the pool table like it had just been swept away.

It hit him like a ton of bricks crashing down, they almost never talked about their families for this very reason. The relatives that knew they were still around even after death had either been driven crazy with grief and denial, it was very rare that any of those cursed had stable parents either still alive or still taking care of them.

Robbie swept his finger across his nose and inhaled against a sudden sob. "You know, Cat told me her grandmother moved to the retirement home because she couldn't stand to be around her anymore. Also, that her family moved away because of her."

"One of her brothers is clinically insane, right?" Rex dropped his head to the right and shifted his beady eyes over to Robbie. The boy nodded and Beck's heart started to sink under the pressure. "Her younger brother?"

"He's in his late twenties now, still lives with his parents because of his mental problems. He used to look up to Cat so much, when we all died he was distraught…so her curse drove him further into insanity like it did her parents. All of our parents."

Like Cat, Andre was the oldest sibling in his family. His parents moved away when the attack happened, leaving him with his grandmother. His father and younger brothers passed away within a few years due to a tragic event, and this led the mom to take her life. Andre was distraught over the news, and still didn't like to talk about it. With all the tragedy, it came to no surprise that his grandmother was now the insane woman everyone knew her to be.

Robbie's own grandmother constantly referred to him as a demon, his grandfather had become reclusive, and his father was now living in New York. His mother suffered a stroke in 2003 and passed away, when Robbie tried to go to the funeral, his grandmother locked him up in the basement just to keep him from 'performing evil' at the funeral.

"It's hard not to hate Damian," Rex admitted with a sour tone. "He didn't just destroy our lives, he destroyed our families too, and we have to be the ones to watch the destruction."

Beck shook his head and let his shoulders fall. "That isn't Damian's fault." The others murmured about Ahriman. It was difficult to say who was worse, but at the end of the day, it didn't matter much to them when thinking about their families. "I think maybe if I'd never been so stupid as to try and make a deal with a reaper demon or whatever…maybe our families would all be living normal lives now."

"No." Rex grunted and the others turned to him. "It's hard to say what would have happened to them. Obviously, since I'm just a puppet, my family doesn't know or think I'm still walking around two decades after my death. But they're all torn apart too, the last I heard. Mom and Dad got a divorce, my little sister got into drugs and is separate from them…my older brother was also murdered back in '99."

"You never talk about that. What happened?"

"He was shopping at a convenience store when an armed robber walked in." Rex choked up and cleared his throat. "He was the only one shot." Beck tensed and looked towards the ground.

"I'm sorry. I know it's no comfort…"

"No it's fine. At least you've still got your father, Beck. Even though he makes you stay in that RV outside."

"Not saying much, he hardly talks to me. Acts like I don't exist, just like Jade's parents do. Though her dad tries to understand the curse, but knowing what we know about the fact that he can sense without being born from a cursed-"

"His life's nearing its end? That's what Janan said?"

"Yeah. If a person isn't a medium, but they're able to sense death, then they're close to death themselves. Cat's grandmother, Jade's father, Andre's grandma…sure we're supposed to outlive them _normally_, but this? This way just isn't right."

"It's not." Andre grabbed his pool stick up and walked to the table with a loud huff. "But let's just keep playing, I'm sick of thinking about all this. Curse or not, we just need to figure out how to make the best of where we are…We're all doomed to hell anyway if we can't get a medium to somehow help us."

"We'll get one, Beck. We have one, we just need to get her to help."

Andre lined up his shot and shifted his eyes up to Beck. "Good luck, I say." His heart stung for the moment and he shook his head as Andre struck the cue ball. "I'm not sure which hell will be worse at this point, man…"

* * *

Times like this it can be easy to give up, but if they're strong, they may get through it. Though twenty years is truly a long time to wait for an end to a curse.


	5. So Close, but So Far

Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 5 (So Close, Yet So Far)

"I'm not feeling too well." Beck looked to his girlfriend with concern as they entered the school. She was holding her hand on her stomach and wincing. "I feel sick, stomach ache."

"Do we need to run down to the pharmacy and grab some stomach medicine? Did you eat something bad?"

"It's probably nothing to worry about. Strange how we can get sick, huh?" He chuckled once and nodded. Just last year he wound up coming down with a bad case of the flu. Yet another one of the cursed students ended up incredibly sick with something that would likely kill a living being, and he ended up flushing it out of his system by drinking a lot of water. "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?"

"Yeah, god forbid one of us actually comes down with cancer or something." He didn't know how the curse managed to keep their bodies and organs functioning, but part of him was grateful for at least that small silver lining. "Frankly, I am glad that we can still eat, sleep, and all the other stuff. Normally not being able to die would be a gift rather than a curse-"

"The curse part is the fact that we know we're going to die, and we're forever rotting."

"Yeah." He looked around the hallway and exhaled sharply. It baffled him why all of the cursed students still came to the school, as if it would make any difference. For himself, he did feel a connection to it. The place was hell with terrible memories of their final day alive, but it was also the one place they could all go and associate with one another as if it were a means of support for them. "I wonder what Sikowitz has planned today."

Jade shrugged, then he felt her tense up. When he looked to see what was wrong, he followed her gaze over to a man in the distance. Sinjin. He was leaning against his locker, watching them with an intense stare.

Beck took Jade's hand and she shook her head, groaning slightly. "You know, Beck. Every single day, I'm scared someone else will be taken. Even though I know Ahriman's got more of a systematic routine, and everyone's just on his schedule, I hate not knowing…"

"I understand." He felt the same way, but forced himself to acknowledge there was nothing to do to make Ahriman change his plans. "You know what bothers me? Seeing the possessed corpse of one of my former best friends. Every single day."

"At least his soul's already passed."

"Yeah. He's not cursed like me or like Damian." He held his breath for a minute, then guided Jade down the nearby hall. "Is it sad that all these years later, I'm still wishing I'd been there for Damian after we lost our friend? He didn't have anyone else, and I keep thinking…what if I just talked to him more? After what happened, we just stopped hanging out."

"There was nothing anyone could have done, Beck."

"I know, I just-" He heard a voice nearby and spun around to see Trina walking down the corridor with Jason. They were discussing Sikowitz, and the strange phenomenon of his existence. "Now's our chance to talk to her." He started to move forward, but Jade grabbed his wrist.

"Do you even know what you're going to say?" His chest throbbed and his lips fell into a frown. "How would you explain it to her in a way that won't either freak her out or laugh in your face?"

It seemed a recurring problem for him, he never thought his plans out fully. Rather, he just acted first and thought later. "I don't know." Trina and Jason stopped near them and glanced over. Jason smiled politely while Trina did not. Her forehead wrinkled and her lips puckered up while her eyes avoided them. "At least she can see our decay, and smell it too. That makes explaining things just a little bit easier."

"I guess."

"Hey Trina, how's it going?" He waved casually and glanced over at Jason with a subtle smile. "So, who's this guy?"

"You don't remember me?" Jason raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Sikowitz's nephew." It took a moment to recall him, since he only saw the guy for a split second. Beck extended his hand and Jason shook it.

"I remember you, good to meet you. I'm Beck Oliver, and this is my girlfriend, Jade West." Jason pulled his hand back slowly and raised an eyebrow, studying the two for a moment. "How do you know Trina?" He looked to the girl and raised his eyebrows. "You're still dating Sinjin, right?"

"Yes," Trina replied, "Jason and I know each other from martial arts camp. We're strictly friends right now…" Beck glanced back, but Jason wasn't reacting to what Trina said. He was still studying the couple, his hand was gently scratching his chin and his eyes were slanted.

"You two look like you'd be good for each other. Probably better than you with Sinjin, but that's just my thoughts on the matter." She'd be better off with Jason, that much was certain. "Something on your mind, Jason?"

"Your names. You share the names of two of the people that lost their lives in that tragedy." Beck's jaw fell open and he heard Jade cough behind him. Maybe they could use Jason's budding curiosity to their advantage in convincing Trina to help them. Still, Jason clearly wasn't sensing the decay, so he may not believe the story about their curse.

"What tragedy?"

"Back in '91, the school shooting and bombing done by Damian Parker. A relative of mine was involved, so I've actually done a lot of research on the subject." Jason bowed his head and clicked his tongue sadly. "It…is horrifying to hear and to read about. So many lost their lives that day."

"Too many." Beck clasped his hands together at his waist and bowed his head. "Never should have happened, but I wonder if it could have been prevented."

"Who knows. It's hard to prevent every single tragedy, and sometimes you never know when something or someone is going to be triggered."

"Yes, but if someone talked to Damian. If someone were there-"

"Maybe he wouldn't have snapped, but maybe he would have anyway." Beck turned his head up and frowned as Jason shrugged his shoulders. "The fact is, we don't know what could have been done, or if anything would have changed a thing. The lives that were lost that day never should have been lost, but we can't do anything about it now-we just have to let them rest and hope a tragedy like that doesn't happen again."

He was right, but Beck still felt a tremendous amount of guilt over having either caused the tragedy or done nothing to stop it. His hands balled up into fists as tears began to try and fight their way out from beneath his eyelids.

"So." His voice was strained, so he cleared his throat and waited to try and speak up again. "Why are you here now? You don't go to this school, I don't think, so are you just visiting your uncle or something?"

"Yes. I was hoping to ask him some questions. Ran into Trina on the way."

"I was visiting my former gym teacher," Trina stated. She still was averting her gaze from the two, and appeared to be holding her breath. Beck had to wonder if this meant the decay and rot was getting worse, in which case, he had no way to cover it up. "Anyway, Jason, I won't keep you."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"Yeah. Do tell me how things go with you uncle." She rubbed her arms and watched him walk off. There was a flicker of concern as she turned her eyes onto Beck and Jade. "Maybe I should read about that tragedy. Might help with my criminal justice degree in the future…"

"Good idea." He flashed a grin while Jade moved up beside him. "Just keep an open mind about what you find."

"Why?" She shook her head and let a nervous chuckle slip from her lips. Beck took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He ran his thoughts through his head, trying to form some reasonable answer or explanation for what he needed to say. He hardly understood mediums himself, so it wasn't going to be so simple as telling her she was one.

"You know, Trina, we know that you can see-"

"See what?" Her lip twitched and her hands slid down into her pockets. "Don't you need to go meet up with Tori or something? You guys leave me alone, so let's keep it that way."

"Trina, come on. There is something we need to tell you, it's important." He felt Jade nudging him, so he turned to see what the problem was. When he saw Sinjin walking towards them, his muscles froze and he started to stammer.

Sinjin's eyes were slanted and his mouth was twisted in a curved smile. "Hey, you." Sinjin stepped next to Trina and wrapped his arm around hers. "I've been looking around for you." She chuckled once and pulled her arm back.

"You found me." Trina motioned to Beck and Jade, who were still frozen under Sinjin's peculiar, icy stare. "I was just talking with these two." Sinjin nodded once and waved at them.

"How are you guys holding up today?"

Beck's heart stung and Jade struggled to speak. "I'm feeling sick today, actually." She clutched Beck's hand with incredible force, causing him to flinch. "Probably going to pay a visit to the nurse."

"Well I hope you feel better soon."

"Just a stomach virus, probably. Could be food poisoning." She walked off, tugging Beck's arm with her. "Let's go find out what the nurse has to say, Beck." He didn't want to leave like this, but he had little choice. If Jade was too nervous, he wasn't going to subject her to anything she didn't want.

As they hurried off, he glanced over his shoulder. Sinjin was still watching them, his gaze sent a sudden chill down Beck's spine. He ignored the nauseous feeling in his stomach and turned his head away.

"Jade."

"What?"

"It might be harder to convince Trina to help us than I thought." He needed advice, so maybe now would be a good time to pay Janan a visit. The mystic could tell them what they needed to do, or at the very least, support them with whatever guidance she could give. "I'd like to learn a little more about mediums, actually. I know they're in touch with the spiritual realm, but that's about all I know."

"We can go back to her shop after school. Right now, I just want to relax and calm down." He knew how she felt, he was just as shaken up. There still seemed to be nothing he could do to find a way to fix things, and the longer he took, the more he felt the window of opportunity was closing.

"How in the hell is ae medium supposed to help us, anyway? I'll ask Janan when we see her later. Surely she's got some advice to give that'll help us out." He glanced back once more and narrowed his eyes as Sinjin and Trina walked away in another direction. "Also, I wonder how much control reaper demons have over the living, if any at all."

"Do you think Ahriman would try to influence someone?"

"Could be. I mean, what if Ahriman were to try and keep us from getting help from a medium. Could he influence her mind in some way, could he put a spell over her in some way?"

Jade looked back and shrugged. "I don't know. I know I like that Jason guy, he seems nice. Trina sounded like she and Jason had been a couple once, so why aren't they together?"

"Because she's with Sinjin. Clearly."

"Do you think we should try and get those two together?" Jade didn't normally suggest meddling in relationship affairs, but in this case, it was understandable. "Whatever we do with Trina, we need to be careful. If Ahriman gets wind of exactly what's going on…who knows what he'll do to everybody."

"He's still a reaper, and we made a deal. He cannot break that, so it isn't like he can just start claiming souls left and right." Besides, Ahriman could very well assume Beck wouldn't find a way to break the curse. "We just need to use his ego against him, that's all. He thinks we're stupid, that we'll just roll over, but I'm not going down without a fight."

"I'm with you, Beck." She leaned over and tenderly kissed his jaw. "I love you." He looked into her eyes with a loving smile and a full heart, it was moments like these that made every day with this curse bearable.

"And I love you. I promise, I won't let you down."

"You couldn't if you tried."

* * *

True, it would be difficult to enlist Trina's help with Ahriman watching them. Do tell your thoughts on the chapter.


	6. The Cursed Parent

Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 6 (The Cursed Parent)

The mystic's shop was crowded as it had been before, so Beck was careful to watch where he stepped. "Don't touch anything," He advised to Jade, "I'm not sure what half this stuff is." Jade nodded and glanced towards a crystal ball on a shelf.

"So this woman's a medium as well? Why don't we just have her help us?"

"She said she can't do what it takes or something." He didn't know exactly what this was that needed to be done, but evidently it needed to be done by a fresh medium rather than an old one. "I want to know more about cursed dead, and how they reproduce with a living, and how that makes the child a medium."

"Do you think she knows who Trina's birth parent is?" He furrowed his brow and shrugged. There was little chance of the woman knowing the answer to that, but anything was possible with this stranger.

"Doubtful. I mean she knew about us, but that much was obvious when anyone researches the school shooting at Hollywood Arts." He glanced to the front desk and frowned at the empty cash register. His stomach was in knots and he wanted to leave quickly. "Where is this woman?"

"Where am I not?" Janan's answer came from nearby, causing him to jump out of his skin. His heart pounded heavily in his chest as the woman walked out from behind a nearby shelf. "You have come with questions?" The woman smiled and turned her eyes towards Jade. "And I see you have brought your beautiful girlfriend as well-or would it be safe to call her your wife?"

Jade blushed furiously and cleared her throat. "I'm not beautiful. I'm a mess of rotting, decaying flesh." Janan clicked her tongue and walked over, moving her hand beneath Jade's chin.

"Au contraire my dear, you are quite lovely. You see, beauty is not skin deep, it's what's on the inside that counts." Janan put one hand to her hip and twirled her other hand in the air beside her head. "You may be a corpse on the outside, but you are remarkably beautiful on the inside."

"I'm not sure how that makes me feel any better…but thank you."

"Yes, well, you've got questions. Come with me to the back room, and I shall answer all to the best of my ability." Beck exchanged a concerned look with Jade, then reluctantly followed Janan to the back. "I do have a question for you, however."

He looked up and raised an eyebrow. "What's that?" The woman stopped before the beads in the doorway and twisted partially towards him.

"Do you keep tabs on your family?"

He did not, only because it would be too painful to keep up with them. "Aside from my father, no." Beck crossed his arms and Jade moved her hand over to his forearm, causing him to relax momentarily. "I was a middle child, and the one boy between two sisters. I've only stayed with my dad…my mom is elsewhere, and I don't know what my sisters have been up to."

"Do you not speak with your father?"

"No, he refuses to tell me anything and constantly mutters that I should be dead. I've given up on trying to establish any kind of report with him."

"I understand." Janan entered through the beads and Beck took a moment's hesitation before following. "You wish to discuss how a medium is created?"

"Um, I suppose. It would be nice to know how the whole thing works. Especially since Trina's a medium, yet both of her parents are living."

"Give me a moment then, boy. I will explain it to you. But first you must understand that a medium can only be born of a cursed dead. In other words, your medium has a different parent. What I will say is that Miss Vega may be related to someone involved in your school's tragedy." Beck raised an eyebrow and took a seat at the round table.

"That makes no sense. She was born in '93, the event happened in '91, and I highly doubt Mr. or Mrs. Vega would sleep with a teenager."

"Do you or do you not want information?"

"I do…"

"Then close your mouth and open your ears, boy."

At the Vega home, Trina paced uncomfortably in the front room. She could see her father watching her from the study, he was frowning and had a heavy look in his eyes. She stopped pacing and made eye contact with him, waiting as he rose to his feet and moved towards her. "Trina, are you feeling okay?"

"No. You wouldn't believe me, anyway." She took a deep breath and fell onto the couch. David sat beside her and pressed his lips together. "Things have been really stressful. I'm seeing things that shouldn't be there, hearing things and running into odd coincidences. I don't understand what's going on, and I think I'm going insane."

David pat his knees and bowed his head. "You're not. I don't know what's going on with you, but I will tell you that you are not insane. But it is possible whatever you're experiencing may have to do with your mother." Trina did a double take and glanced to the stairs.

"Mom? What does she have to do with any of this?" When he closed his eyes and drew in a sharp breath, Trina gained a sense that something was amiss. She looked to her father and tilted her head to the right. "Is something wrong, Daddy?"

"Nothing is wrong, but I do have something that I've been needing to tell you. Only, it's difficult." Her heartbeat grew steady and she moved her hand up to her chest while slowing her breathing. "I did not meet Holly until after you were born, Trina. She is not your mother."

In an single instant her entire world froze. She moved her hand down and stammered in the sudden shock and confusion. "What?" Her eyebrows meshed together and she slowly shook her head. "I don't understand. Why are you telling me this now?" The timing seemed poor at best. Her mind forgot the unexplained instances that had been happening recently, and questions began to form in her mind. "It would explain why mom ignores me, but-but why didn't I know this?"

"I never knew the right time, the right way to bring it up. You've talked about strange things happening lately, and I figured…maybe it's something from your birth mother." She doubted these strange senses were from her mom, but anything was possible. "Lisa…that was her name." He smiled slightly and Trina bowed her head, focusing on the heavy feeling in her chest. "She was a great woman-if she had lived, she'd very likely be here now."

"You mean you would have married her?"

"We were engaged to be married." David leaned back and looked at the wall in front of him. "She…passed away around the time you were born, Trina." Her jaw fell open and her eyes stung from the tears that were fighting her. "I know it seems sudden, but I couldn't keep this from you anymore, you deserve to know about your mother…."

"She was a police officer," Janan stated while grabbing a rope from the shelf in the room. Beck let himself relax, focusing on the tale that Janan was giving him in regards to the parent that was cursed. "What little I know of the situation is that she was engaged to Officer Vega, but was shot and killed while trying to stop a bank robbery." His heart sank and he bowed his head, cursing under his breath. "She must have made a deal with a reaper and was cursed."

"And somehow her reproductive organs worked."

"Let me ask you, Beckett. Do you not get hungry and eat? Do you not feel the heart pumping beneath your chest? The reaper keeps their end of the deal and gives you life, but to that regard…there are conditions. You need have to read the fine print."

"Yeah…"

"Now, because the child is born from a cursed one, they are in tune with the supernatural. They can see ghosts, they see demons and much else."

"And because Trina's birth mother was cursed, she's a medium." It was difficult to stomach this information, and he was truly sorry for Mr. Vega and for Trina. "But how can we get her to accept this, to understand it? How can we get her to believe in all of this."

"The key may lie in who her mother was. Figure that out, and once you do-or once she does, she may soon believe without question."

Trina had her head on her father's shoulder and was taking a moment to ponder and breathe. Her mother was a police officer like her father, of course she was happy about this. She wanted to know more, however. "Did you ever know her family, Dad? Do I have any relatives?"'

"Certainly. Although, I think she may have had a relative in that school shooting back in '91." Trina's eyes widened and she lifted her head, gasping aloud as David scratched his head. "She was always researching it. As for her other relatives, I do not know much about them. She hardly spoke of her brother or her sister."

"I'd love to know who they are, Dad."

"Then I would do what I could to help you." Maybe discovering who her mother was would help her focus less on the strange phenomenon that had been going on lately. However, if her mom had a relative involved in the school shooting, she would want to know some more about that as well.

"Thank you for telling me this." She was still letting it sink in, but she was glad still to know the truth. Even if she had not expected it.

David put an arm around her and pulled her into a hug, then gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "No matter what, you'll always be my child, and I will always love you. Got that?"

"I got it." She flashed a smile and hugged him in return. "I love you too, dad."

Back at Janan's shop, Beck and Jade left no more aware of what was going on than when they first arrived. She did give them tips on how to approach Trina with the subject, and even offered some cream that would help cover up their decay from those that could sense.

"So now we know, Trina's birth mom from a prior relationship with David, is the one that was cursed." Jade hummed lightly and slipped her arm around his while walking. She looked up to him and spoke with a quiet tone.

"She seemed awfully interested in your family for some reason. You've never bothered to check up on them like the others. Maybe you should?"

"I don't know." He didn't he could deal with the pain of seeing how they were fairing without him after all these years. "I'm fine just knowing my dad's pretty much going off the deep end…"

Jade's fingers tightened around his arm and her lips kissed his shoulder. The gesture brought his blood up beneath the skin and warmed his tense muscles. She pulled her head back and sighed at him. "Who knows, knowing might also make you feel better. Especially if they are doing well. I wish my family would be doing well."

"Yeah." He scratched the back of his head and looked towards the mystic shop. "The truth of the matter is, I don't know what I could find out. My dad's the only one I know I could get information from, and like I said, he won't talk to me."

"What do you know about the others?"

"Not much. Mom left a long time ago. My oldest sister was a new police officer around the time, of the shooting, and my little sister was always busy trying to get ahead in life."

"Your oldest sister was a police officer?"

"Yeah, and she was amazing." There was a twinkle in his eyes as he thought back to his sister. He could only wonder what she was up to now, so perhaps he would try and look them up. "I still want to focus on trying to free everyone from this curse, I don't really have time for side trips."

"Honestly Beck, I think we've got time. It's not like any of us are going anywhere right now, Ahriman doesn't have to claim his next soul for a while." She gave a warm smile and brushed up against her. "I think it would make you feel better, and I'd like to see that."

He chuckled and brushed a knuckle against his nose. "Okay. I will, then." It could be fun to see what his relatives were up to. He'd have to see for himself what the outcome could be. "But I'm not going to forget my primary concerns."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

So we've discovered a few things more about what's going on. Oh and yes there is a reason that the scenes shifted between Beck and Trina in this chapter.


	7. The Enemy

Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: Sorry it's been so long, I've been lazy. My gift to you is two chapters.

* * *

Chapter 7 (The Enemy)

Seeing Damian at one of the cafeteria tables by himself, Beck decided to sit with him. When he sat down, Damian scooted himself away to the right and shot him a suspicious look. "What do you think you're doing?"

Beck shrugged and grabbed the banana on his tray. "Thought I'd be nice and pay you a visit. Besides, two of the most hated people amongst the cursed, we have to stick together, right?" Damian threw a napkin in the trash and scoffed at him.

"Twenty years and I can't believe no one fucking notices. We never age, we're always here, and we look exactly like we did before we died." There were some minimal changes that everyone made, primarily wardrobe and hairstyles over time.

"The school closed down for the rest of the year, remember?" The assault happened on March 9th 1991, and all the destruction within made them shut the doors until August. "Not everyone came back right away. You came back-"

"I had nowhere to go. I couldn't go home, because I had no home." Damian scratched his head and rolled his eyes. "I still can't believe that of us they don't recognize me. I'm the one that killed everyone, they shouldn't even let me in those doors."

Damian slid back on the bench and stared down at is rough hands and bloody palms. "You know Beck, your curse is living with the fact that you cursed everybody to a life of hell before being some reaper's afternoon snack." Beck dropped his gaze and let his shoulders fall. "Mine is being alive cursed to spend my final moments watching those I killed…and I can't die." Damian's eyes drifted to Beck and his lips pulled back into a thin line. "You know how many times I've tried to kill myself, doing everything imaginable and still opening my eyes."

"We've all been there, Damian." That was no secret among them, even Beck tried to kill himself after the curse was set, but death wasn't allowed. "Ahriman controls us, we go when he says. That's the curse…I didn't even know we were going to be cursed, I didn't think pleading the reaper was a bad thing to do."

"There's a reason they say you can't cheat death." Damian narrowed his eyes and closed his hands. "I could do it all again you know." Beck tensed and held his breath. Damian brought a hand up over his mouth and closed his eyes. "But it would solve nothing. Pretty sure I'm going to hell no matter what happens."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you've been trying to find a way to save us all, looking for a medium and whatnot." Twenty years and Beck figured he would have learned by now that those forty five people were like a tight knit community. One person couldn't do much without the rest figuring it out. "Say you find a way to break the curse, everyone crosses over and doesn't become a demon's dinner. I'm going to hell regardless, because I killed forty four fucking people."

"Do you ever regret it?"

"Now I do, yes." Damian's hand fell back to the table and he stared off in the distance for what felt like an eternity. When he finally spoke up, his voice was quiet and his tone seemed to waver. "A long time ago I didn't. I was filled with hate when I did what I did, and to a degree I still am…but it's more anger than hate now."

"I see."

"I wanted those that I killed to die with me. I wanted _you_ to die with me." A lump formed in his throat as Damian turned to look at him. "When our best friend had that tumor, where the fuck were you, Beck? He died, and you went off gallivanting with your new friends, but Sinjin was all the friend I had then. Along with you. Both of you were all I had. My parents wanted nothing to do with me, when my brother died back in '82, they looked after my little sister like she was the fucking crown jewel of the family. So you two were all that I had left…so what more did I have to lose?"

A blank expression passed over Damian's face and Beck felt a strain in his chest. "I know. I'm sorry, Damian. I never meant to abandon you."

"He was your best friend too, so it was as if you abandoned him as well. So yes, I wanted you to die, I wanted your new friends to die, and I wanted your new girlfriend to die." Beck moved his hand to his abdomen and swallowed the rising bile inside. The memories of that day were now playing over and over in his head, and he couldn't shake them. "But this? This curse, I wouldn't wish on anybody. If I'd known this would happen, I don't know if it would change much…"

"Sometimes I wonder if I'd been more of a friend to you, if it could have all been avoided." Their friend's death had a terrible impact on him as well, and he didn't want to burden Damian with his own grief. "When he died I grieved too. I avoided you because I didn't want to grieve or cause you any more grief than you were already dealing with."

"There were a lot of reasons I did what I did." Damian took a deep breath and folded his hands over each other. " Mainly, I didn't want to die alone. I was already planning to die." Damian took a deep breath and folded up the napkin on his tray. "Now our best friend walks among us, and he's not even one of the cursed ones."

He frowned and turned his head up from the table. "That isn't our friend, Damian."

"I know. That's why I don't talk to him."

"He died in February of '91, he shouldn't even be here. I never thought a reaper could possess a corpse."

"You know his sister's still around too, but she's cursed, as far as I know. His parents died back in the '90s." Their deaths had been a grisly scene, and one that Beck wished he never saw. While he didn't witness the crime, he saw the news reports and saw the pictures. "I've always wondered how many reapers there were in the world."

"According to that mystic, so many, and that's why mediums exist apparently." He brought his hands up and laced his fingers together. Beck's knuckles rested beneath the tip of his nose as he focused on the tray of food. "They're called that because they serve a link to the spiritual realm. They can command spirits, help them cross over or finish unfinished business…and break supernatural curses too somehow. The contract that we're tied to our particular reaper with, a medium can sever that-but Janan said supernatural methods are involved."

"And this mystic? Why can't she help?"

"Apparently her powers aren't as strong as they once were."

Damian stretched his arms out and leaned forward. His bushy eyebrow drifted upwards and he stared at Beck with a quizzical look. "What powers does a medium have? Aside from being able to see things supernatural."

"I think it's essentially just being able to hold séances and communicate with the dead. Kind of like the cheesy psychics you see on television, but mediums are real. They can't see the future or make objects move, though."

"I see. And you think your living friend's sister is a medium?"

"Yeah, evidently she had a mother who was cursed dead that a reaper claimed her soul after she gave birth." Damian cringed and let out a heavy sigh.

"Harsh. Makes it easy to claim she died during childbirth, though."

"I suppose." Beck swept his hand through his hair and watched as some of the cursed ones walked past them. "Her mom had some connection to us." Damian jerked back and parted his.

"Everyone's a little young for that, don't you think?"

"Yeah, Mr. Vega wouldn't have sex with a teenager…the woman had a brother or a sister that was killed here in '91." Whoever it was, he felt bad for their family. The family would have lost two kids within two years. "She was a cop that died in '92. Made a deal with a reaper and was cursed until '93."

"Do you think it was _him_? Ahriman?"

"I don't know, but I'd like to find out. If it's Ahriman-" He stopped suddenly and closed his eyes as a pit entered his stomach. "It doesn't really matter, I suppose. What's more important is convincing Trina to help us."

Damian chuckled once and stood from the table. "To do that you'd have to get her to believe you're really dead and all of us are cursed. Once she stops freaking out, because you know she will, you've got to find a way to keep her from Ahriman."

"Yeah. That could be a problem."

"Why?"

"I think Ahriman's already got his sights set on her. He's probably making sure we don't get to her."

"Well that's just fantastic. Find a way to free us all, and Ahriman's already a step ahead."

"We are going against supernatural forces, according to Janan, so I'm not really surprised." Beck dropped his hands back to the table and glanced at Damian. The man's shoulders were sloped down and his eyelids were sagging with his jowls. "Damian. I will find a way to help you too. I promise."

"I don't deserve that."

"I know you think that, but you don't deserve all this shit either."

"You don't have to be my friend, Beck. I don't even deserve that."

He was wrong, and Beck realized that. "Everyone deserves a friend." Damian tossed his half eaten food in the trash and scoffed.

"That might have worked back then, but nowadays? Unless you want the group to hate you even more for befriending the one that killed everyone, I suggest you let me worry about myself while you go and worry about your own problems. You can't save everybody, you can't save me."

Beck closed his hands and watched Damian walk away. He grit his teeth and looked away. "You're wrong, Damian. That's where you're wrong." His eyes drifted upwards as a shadow fell over him. When he saw Sinjin, his breath stopped in his throat.

"Hello Beck." The skin around Sinjin's nose and eyes wrinkled and his eyebrows fell over his eyes. "What are you doing."

"I should ask you that question. You're dating Trina, but you have no interest in her. How could you when you're not affected by 'earthly desires'? What's your prerogative?"

"I have none." Sinjin shrugged and looked past Beck. "I see you were talking to Damian." Beck's lip curved into a smirk as the man leaned over the table and flattened his palms onto the surface. "You know what's so great about all of this? Not only do I have a shell that allows me to walk freely amongst everyone and to interact, but I also have all the memories…"

"Get out." His words trembled from angry lips and his hair fell over his eyes. Sinjin straightened his back and raised an eyebrow at Beck. "I don't know how you got in there, but I swear to god you'd better stop defiling my friend. Get out before I tear you out myself."

"Is that any way to talk to an old friend, Beck?"

"You are not my friend, we were never friends." He pushed himself up and stepped close to the man, growling as his eyes connected. "And you are not Sinjin. Mark my words, I'm going to find a way to break this curse."

"You can't. I'll tear your soul from that corpse of yours faster than you can blink an eye."

"Sure." He smirked widely and moved his hand to sweep the lint off Sinjin's shoulder. "But you can't do that. You can't go against your own contract. Lo and behold, the deal was…I am to remain attached to my corpse until _everybody else_ has gone before me." A sneer spread across the enemy's face and he turned away with a violent huff.

"You'd best watch yourself, Beck. You have no idea what you're going against."

"I think I do." Beck's eyes narrowed as Sinjin stormed off. He lowered his voice and balled up his fists. "And I will win…Ahriman."

* * *

Well hopefully that answers at least one question, which may or may not have been obvious.


	8. Monsters?

Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 8 (Monsters)

The light of his father's house shone through the window with a dull glow, but he remained unaffected as he stared from the window of his RV. His wrists locked behind his waist and his forehead pressed gently against the window as his shoulders sank. "Twenty years, it never gets easier."

Beck could see the silhouette of his father seated in his recliner, reading a book. Many years ago, he'd take an interest and start a conversation with his father over the literature, and that eagerness still filled his shattered heart.

The rain outside pelted his window, and with each jolt of thunder, his body tensed. Storms were hardest for him, each clap of thunder was like a gunshot, and each flicker of lightning was the blast that brought about the screams in his head and the pain around his open wounds. After that day, he sought his family's comfort, but they turned him away. It didn't surprise him, but it hurt to be thought of as a monster.

Another clap of thunder echoed, causing him to tighten his fists and glare at the sky. "I'm not a monster. You hear me?" His voice rose as he screamed at whatever unforeseen force dictated his life and death. "I'm no monster, and you can't keep me bound here!" Beck thrust his fist through the window, then winced as shards of glass cut through his flesh. He pulled his fist back and grabbed his wrist, screaming as he collapsed to the floor and pressed up against the wall of the RV. "Jesus!"

The rain blew inside and fell around him, creating an aura of water that cloaked his body. Beck took a deep breath and turned his wet eyes onto the fresh wounds. There was little blood, but deep and jagged cuts stretched along his hand like cracks that would never heal.

His door flew open and he threw his head up with a powerful shout, but was relieved to see Rex standing in the doorway. For a moment he thought it was Ahriman coming to claim his soul early. "What are you doing here without Robbie?" Rex started to walk towards him, but with slow and limping movements. Everyone was aware he could move on his own, but Robbie's helping him around was convenient, if not faster.

"He won't help me with what I need, so I'm turning to you for help." Beck lowered his wounded wrist to his lap and closed his lips together. A hard lump grew in his throat as Rex stopped halfway to him. "God, walking in that storm is hard as hell, I mean I already have enough difficulty walking on my own."

"You should be more careful, your wood could rot."

"Do you think I care?"

"Fair point." He spread his nostrils apart and closed his eyes. "So what do you need my help with that Robbie won't help you with?"

"I need to get over to Monica's place." Images of a ten year old brunette flashed before Beck's mind. Monica was Rex's little sister, she was one of the sweetest kids he'd ever known, always showering Jade with compliments and bringing them flowers whenever she could.

Each victim of the shooting had their own individual funerals, and each attended. Beck attended everybody's, and seeing the little girl breaking down in front of everybody was hard to stomach. As far as he knew, she was the last surviving member of the family, Rex's older brother died in '99, and both of his parents died within two years of one another.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Beck raised an eyebrow and slowly rose to his feet. "You know you can't be connected with your family. You didn't retain your corpse, you're-"

"A puppet. No shit. Don't talk to me like I don't already know that." Beck smiled sadly and crossed his arms as Rex turned his head to the door. "I have no intention of making contact with her, I don't want to hurt her like that, but I am still her big brother. I need to protect her." Beck furrowed his brow and uncrossed his arms.

"What's going on?"

"She's been dating this asshole." Rex's voice trailed off and the roaring thunder fell silent around them. Beck's heart dropped as he watched the puppet's head rotate back to him. "Marcus something or other, he's an abusive prick that's got her wrapped around his finger and he won't let go. I fully intend to bring the fear of god on him while I have an opportunity."

"We're not monsters, Rex. We don't scare people." Beck felt a rush of anger as well, he didn't want to imagine Monica in such a situation.

"I don't give a shit." Rex's voice rose and his wooden eyes seemed to fill with emotion for the first time. "There is a man abusing my baby sister, and I'm not going to sit by and let that continue!" Rex lifted his hand, then dropped it with a heavy growl. "Did you become a coward when you died, Beck? I mean come on, you would never stand for something like this if this happened to your sister."

Beck's nostrils flared as he thought of Lisa and Linda. He'd been the middle child, and he was protective of both his siblings in life. If anyone were to hurt them, he'd lash out. Even with Lisa, who was six years older and tough enough on her own, he'd fight to the death for her. "You're right. I don't condone this, but it has to be done."

"Thank you."

It didn't take long to reach Monica's place. Beck parked across the street and looked out at the home. Rex's little sister was standing on the front lawn with a baby in her arms, and a toddler playing at her feet. She'd grown tall, and her messy brown hair curled over her ears and hugged her neck.

Her face retained its childlike appearance, and freckles adorned her cheeks, but they were seemingly hidden by the sickening bruises that blackened her skin. "You still think what I'm about to do makes me any more of a monster, Beck?" Beck trembled violently as he studied the woman's bruised arms. "I'm not a monster."

"No…" He breathed out and watched as a red car approached. "Who's that?"

"A friend of hers. I've been watching for a few weeks now, and that's Emily, apparently a very good friend of hers trying to get her to leave Marcus. He won't let her go, no matter what." Rex's voice grew noticeably dark, striking fear into Beck's heart. "So I'm going to see what happens when big brother pays a little visit…"

"Don't take it too far, man."

"Don't worry." They waited as the girl's friend helped her and the children into the car, then drove off. Beck glanced to a window beside the front door and saw the curtains pull away. A man's face appeared and ghastly eyes followed Emily's car.

"Whatever you're going to do, Rex. Now's your chance."

"Fuck right it is." Rex kicked at the door until Beck opened it for him. He started to ask how the puppet managed to open the door of his RV, but remembered that he never shut the door all the way. Rex hopped out and twisted around. "You coming?"

"You want my help?"

"I don't need it, but I might be able to use you if things go badly in there."

He shrugged and exited the car. He approached the house and crouched low beneath the window, watching as Rex approached the door and began kicking it. His eyebrows pushed upwards and he separated his lips just as the front door opened.

"What's going on out here?" Marcus asked while scanning the street.

Rex bellowed out, throwing his voice into the air with great power. "Assfuck, down here!" Marcus glanced down and froze, his eyes widened and his jaw fell open. "I know what you've been doing to my little sister, and I don't like it."

"What the fuck are you?"

"Pissed off. Oh, and your worst nightmare." Rex kicked the man's shin, causing him to throw his leg up. Before he could put it back down, Rex struck the other leg around the ankle, forcing Marcus onto his back.

Rex climbed onto Marcus's chest and gnashed his wooden teeth. Marcus looked up at him with a whimper and tried to reach up, but Rex fell forward and bit the man's left shoulder. Beck rolled his eyes and looked away, muttering about the action.

"Get off me!" Marcus screamed. Rex laughed out and struck the man's face several times. "What the hell are you?" He stopped, then moved close to Marcus's face, glaring into the man's frightened eyes.

"I'm a cursed soul, trapped in the form of a puppet. My name is Rex Parrish, and Monica is my little sister." Marcus planted his hands on the ground beside his body. His chest heaved and he started to shake his head. "I've been watching you, and I know she's tried to leave you. So here's the deal, you're going to leave her, you're never going to lay a finger on her, because if you do and you don't head my warnings…I will come back. Do you want that?"

"N-No, I…How can you be her older brother? You're dead!"

"I said that. Yes. I am dead."

"You're a monster!"

"No, you're the monster here." Marcus whimpered and screamed out as Rex struck him again. He then grabbed the man's throat and started compressing his hands around the neck. "But I can find ways to kill you if I need to, I hope you remember that."

"Please. Get off me!" Marcus started gagging. He grabbed Rex and struggled to pull the puppet from him, but whether it was by sheer force or will, Rex would not budge. "Oh god."

"I've had twenty years to learn how to move and use every part of this body. I'm still greatly limited by what I can do, but that doesn't mean I can't adapt-I can find ways." Rex removed his hands from Marcus's neck and moved them to wrap around the man's face. His wooden thumbs rested over the man's eyelids, causing him to scream out again. "Want me to poke out your eyes, Marcus? I can do that easily."

"No, god, please!"

"There is no god!" Rex pressed his thumbs against Marcus's eyes, his voice echoed and struck Beck like a heavy vibration. Beck bowed his head and lanced to the right, huffing. Unlike some of the others, he thought God was somewhere, but similarly he thought maybe whoever was up there had forgotten them. "At least, none that will help your ass, Marcus."

Rex removed his thumbs and Marcus opened his eyes, tears slid down his temples as he stared up at the puppet. "W-What do you want from me?"

"I told you. I want you gone, I want you to leave my sister alone. If you don't, I'll come back." He tilted his head and started to chuckle. "Oh, and feel free to tell everybody that demons are taking over puppets and bringing them to life." He then hopped off Marcus and moved slowly down the sidewalk.

As Marcus remained on his back, Beck decided it was best to leave now. He followed Rex to the car. "Why did you tell him that?" Beck shut the door behind him and looked down as Rex climbed into the vehicle. "Rex?"

"Because if he actually starts telling people a puppet attacked him, they'll throw him in a nuthouse." Beck glanced out the window and sucked in a deep breath of air. He watched Marcus stagger to his feet, the man trembled and looked down the street before running back into the home. "If I still had my human form, I could have done much worse to him."

"I'm sure he would have deserved it."

"Demons like that walk the earth, they're alive and fully human. It makes me wonder, why would they call the undead monsters." Beck's lips tugged back into his cheeks and he started up the car, glancing out the corner of his eyes as Rex stared out the window. "Let's go, Beck. Thank you for helping me…"

"I guess it's good to help your sister out even now?"

Rex dropped his gaze and breathed out slowly. "Yes. You should check on your sisters sometime, Beck." He furrowed his brow and gripped the steering wheel firmly. "I know you don't think any of us should have anything to do with our families, but that doesn't mean you can't at least find out what they're up to. Personally, I'd love to see how Lisa and Linda are holding up."

He visualized his family around the dinner table, their heads bowed to say grace. Lisa, though the oldest, would often feed table scraps to the dog. Her soft brown hair framed her oval face and fell around her shoulders, feathering out at the bottom. Linda would poke Beck during grace and snicker when their mother's left eye opened and scolded them for messing around at the table.

The vison brought tears to Beck's eyes and tugged at his heart. "Same here." He pushed down on the gas pedal and swept his hand across his face, wiping away the moisture. "Maybe I'll ask dad, though I can hardly get anything out of that man anymore." Times had changed, and he hadn't seen his sisters or his mother in years. Linda came by about eight years ago, and Lisa seemed to vanish after his funeral.

"I have never asked, because I don't think I'd like what I'd hear…"

* * *

Your thoughts? So, chronologically this means Lisa disappeared from the family in '92. Don't know if that means anything, but infer what you will and tell me what you think of this chapter


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